Do You Need a Foot-in-the-Door or Is A Toe Enough? Scripting Introductions That Induce Tailoring and Increase Participation in Telephone Interviews

Substantial research and practical experience shows that a telephone interviewer is most successful at gaining cooperation and avoiding refusals when they are free to tailor their introductory pitch to the potential respondent or household informant they reach. However, survey designers are often uncomfortable allowing interviewers to work “off-script,” and instruct interviewers to read introductory text verbatim. Further, some interviewers report being more comfortable with a script than without one. To bridge this gap between research and practice we asked, “Can we create a scripted introduction that engages the potential respondent, gets a foot-in-the-door, and facilitates interviewer tailoring?” This paper reports on a randomized experimental test of two such scripts, each implemented within the Washington Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a random digit dial (RDD) phone survey. In both phases of the experiment, sampled phone numbers were randomized to the standard BRFSS introduction or the new script. Phase 1 (August, 2018) implemented a “conversational” introduction that added or revised three features of the standard BRFSS introduction: First, the introduction included three “hook questions” (e.g., “Have you heard of the survey?”). One hook question was randomly displayed each time a phone number was called. Second, the script displayed on the first three CATI screens was modified to sound more conversational and less abrupt. Third, pause points were created to make sure the interviewer slows down and listens to the potential respondent. Each of these features is hypothesized to increase tailoring, and thus cooperation, by encouraging interaction between the interviewer and potential respondent. Phase 2 (September, 2018) replaced the conversational introduction with a “progressive scheduling” script that instructed interviewers to ask for a good time to call back to complete the interview rather than asking for complete cooperation on the call. This approach encourages a dynamic that shows respect for the respondent’s time. It also changes a large, unexpected request to a small one that the respondent can plan. While call-backs are sometimes considered undesirable outcomes, they can be a good “toe-in-the-door” technique that leads to full cooperation later. Our primary outcomes are cooperation, scheduled callbacks, and refusals. Additionally, a more conversational introduction might influence answers to questions within the interview, such as if increased rapport depresses reports of sensitive behaviors. Thus, we will also assess the effect of the modified scripts on responses to assess the nonresponse / measurement error trade-offs of this approach

Perspectives on Fully Synthesized Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Direction and Opportunities

13-C-AJFF-UD-024This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Please cite this article as: Kramer S, Andac G, Heyne J, Ellsworth J, Herzig P and Lewis KC (2022) Perspectives on Fully Synthesized Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Direction and Opportunities. Front. Energy Res. 9:782823. doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2021.782823The aviation sector seeks to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with manufacturers and airlines announcing \u201czero-emission\u201d goals and plans. Reduced carbon aviation fuels are central to meeting these goals. However, current and near-term aircraft, which will remain flying for decades, are designed around the combustion of petroleum-based aviation kerosene (e.g., Jet A/A-1). Therefore, the industry has focused on the qualification and approval of synthesized (e.g., non-petroleum-based) aviation fuel components with maximum blend limit percentages to avoid the blended fuel having properties outside the accepted ranges for Jet A/A-1. The synthesized components approved for blending are not necessarily interchangeable with Jet A/A-1. They may lack certain required chemical components, such as aromatics, or may have other characteristics outside the allowable ranges. To ensure safety, these synthesized aviation fuel components are only qualified to be used in commercial aviation when blended up to approved limits. The sector seeks to move toward the capability of using 100% synthesized aviation fuels that also meet sustainability criteria, known as sustainable aviation fuels, or SAF. However, these fuels must be developed, assessed, and deployed appropriately

Symptomatic Floor-of-Mouth Swelling with Neck Extension in a 14-Year-Old Girl

A plunging ranula is a soft-tissue mass stemming from a mucous extravasation cyst of the sublingual gland which can herniate through the mylohyoid muscle. We describe a case in which a 14-year-old girl presented with a rapidly expanding mass on the floor of her mouth affecting her ability to swallow and speak and causing tracheal compression. The patient was initially managed conservatively with antibiotics and steroids; however, the mass continued to expand necessitating emergent bedside incision and drainage and subsequent surgical intervention. The pathophysiology and management options for ranulas are also discussed herein

Severity of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis is not linked to testosterone concentration in patients with type 2 diabetes.

BackgroundHypogonadism is reported to occur in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), but earlier studies used low-sensitivity diagnostic techniques (CT, ultrasound), for NAFLD diagnosis. We hypothesized that if hypogonadism was due to NAFLD, and not solely attributable to underlying obesity/diabetes, it would be more severe in the presence of steatohepatitis (NASH). To examine the influence of liver disease on testosterone in males with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we used gold-standard liver imaging with MR-spectroscopy (1H-MRS), and performed liver biopsies to grade/stage the NAFLD.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, we measured in 175 males with T2DM total and free testosterone, markers of insulin resistance, and intrahepatic triglyceride content (IHTG) by 1H-MRS. Those with NAFLD on imaging underwent a liver biopsy.ResultsTotal testosterone was higher in the group without NAFLD ("No-NAFLD"; n = 48) compared to isolated steatosis (IS; n = 62) or NASH (n = 65) (385 ± 116 vs. 339 ± 143 vs. 335 ± 127 ng/ml, ptrend 0.03). Testosterone was also lower in obese vs. non-obese subjects in both the No-NAFLD and IS groups (p = 0.06 and p = 0.11, respectively), but not in obese vs. non-obese patients with NASH (p = 0.81). IHTG was independently associated with total testosterone (ß = -4.8, p = 0.004). None of the liver histology characteristics were associated with lower testosterone.ConclusionsNAFLD is linked to lower total testosterone in patients with T2DM, but likely given a common soil of insulin resistance/obesity and not from the severity of liver necroinflammation or fibrosis. Nevertheless, clinicians should consider screening patients with T2DM and NAFLD for hypogonadism

Do You Need a Foot-in-the-Door or Is A Toe Enough? Scripting Introductions That Induce Tailoring and Increase Participation in Telephone Interviews

Substantial research and practical experience shows that a telephone interviewer is most successful at gaining cooperation and avoiding refusals when they are free to tailor their introductory pitch to the potential respondent or household informant they reach. However, survey designers are often uncomfortable allowing interviewers to work “off-script,” and instruct interviewers to read introductory text verbatim. Further, some interviewers report being more comfortable with a script than without one. To bridge this gap between research and practice we asked, “Can we create a scripted introduction that engages the potential respondent, gets a foot-in-the-door, and facilitates interviewer tailoring?” This paper reports on a randomized experimental test of two such scripts, each implemented within the Washington Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), a random digit dial (RDD) phone survey. In both phases of the experiment, sampled phone numbers were randomized to the standard BRFSS introduction or the new script. Phase 1 (August, 2018) implemented a “conversational” introduction that added or revised three features of the standard BRFSS introduction: First, the introduction included three “hook questions” (e.g., “Have you heard of the survey?”). One hook question was randomly displayed each time a phone number was called. Second, the script displayed on the first three CATI screens was modified to sound more conversational and less abrupt. Third, pause points were created to make sure the interviewer slows down and listens to the potential respondent. Each of these features is hypothesized to increase tailoring, and thus cooperation, by encouraging interaction between the interviewer and potential respondent. Phase 2 (September, 2018) replaced the conversational introduction with a “progressive scheduling” script that instructed interviewers to ask for a good time to call back to complete the interview rather than asking for complete cooperation on the call. This approach encourages a dynamic that shows respect for the respondent’s time. It also changes a large, unexpected request to a small one that the respondent can plan. While call-backs are sometimes considered undesirable outcomes, they can be a good “toe-in-the-door” technique that leads to full cooperation later. Our primary outcomes are cooperation, scheduled callbacks, and refusals. Additionally, a more conversational introduction might influence answers to questions within the interview, such as if increased rapport depresses reports of sensitive behaviors. Thus, we will also assess the effect of the modified scripts on responses to assess the nonresponse / measurement error trade-offs of this approach

Full Archive

Full Archiv

Appendix A. Results of Tukey a posteriori tests for variables showing significance with the ANOVA test.

Results of Tukey a posteriori tests for variables showing significance with the ANOVA test